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'Clash of playstyles' - A look at LGD - Darer and what happens when East meets West

GosuGamers lead strategy editor Bruno "shostakovich" Tomasz takes a look at a recent match from BeyondTheSummit World Tour between LGD and Darer and dissect the clash of playstyles that happen when West meets East.

The exchange period between the western and eastern world (SMMs, WDCs and other major tournaments should come into mind) are the point of maturation for the DOTA competitive scene. By facing opponents from the other side of the world, DOTA players were saved from subjective obscurity, escaped from solipsism and discovered exactly where are their place in the DOTA world and how they play the game. And, in the end, everyone sees that there's a lot to learn. For instance, while the western world argue that they lack the discipline and mindset shown by the eastern world (so said Black^ in a interview), the eastern world claim that they lag behind in creativity and innovation (just remember what DC said when EHOME was crushed by DTS at WDC. The dialogue between different worlds promoted a huge evolution for the competitive scene.

Now, a good DOTA game is no longer that game where you pick a hero because he's "imba", but because he fits in a plan, in a playstyle. While the bad player whines about balance, the good player quickly recognizes that every hero (or almost every hero) is viable as long your gameplan is sound. And thanks to this, the teams got stronger identities. Back in the past, everyone would simply pick an "imba" hero (hello Bristleback!) and do it all the time. Today, you can actually stick to the way you like to play the game, because different playstyles are viable. The International 2 will be another moment where a huge exchange between east and west is going to happen. In this article, I want to discuss a little about playstyles and show you a clash of playstyles in a match between LGD and DARER on Beyond the Summit' World Tour.